Mars in Pisces

Monterey Bay Aquarium (Monterey, CA)

(photo credit: Dragan Maksimovic, March 2012)

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Mars in Pisces is not generally thought of as Mars in its most assertive, pro-active mode. Not that Mars is weak in Pisces - the concept of ‘weakness’ which has long been attached to Pisces is more about the inability to pin something down as a finite definition (the ‘finite’ part being the glitch) ... than any weakness per se - which is why Pisces influences (or Piscean people) are often so misunderstood.

Pisces is not about a ‘dust bin’ - it’s about all those facts and feelings no one wants to ... or in many cases even dares to confront, deal with or otherwise get honest with themselves about. So whatever house in your chart wears the sign of Pisces on its cusp is going to be a ‘weak’ point in your life - but not necessarily because of any inability or incapacity. Sometimes people just aren’t interested in something. Sometimes we don’t realize the importance of something until the opportunity to avail ourselves of that opportunity (or to uphold that responsibility) is long gone and lost.

As third of the zodiac’s elemental water signs, Pisces isn’t intrinsically about our emotionality and how to deal with our feelings - that’s Cancer. Nor is Pisces intrinsically about how to get along with others and deal with emotionally charged relationships. That’s Scorpio (in spades).

No ... Pisces is about the feelings we feel when we grasp our uniqueness in the same stroke as the understanding that we’re but a mote in the grand scale of our universe.

Pisces is the reality of all such things. And more importantly, it’s about all the feelings we feel as we really grasp our mortality and existence - and about how having a life means having some faith in our ability just to survive.

Pisces is all about our vulnerabilities - and not just what they are or how we react and feel when we confront those vulnerabilities, but why we have them. Metaphysically, our vulnerabilities are there to teach us something. Yet as the nature of Pisces is such that revelation is offered only when control is surrendered and replaced not necessarily by trust but at least by a willingness to trust in this moment and maybe going forward into infinity providing betrayal never occurs ... not one of us is ever happy about surrendering to the river in the knowledge (not the dream) that we really are going to be taken where-oh-where we do not know.

Abandonment is Piscean. So is abandoning one's self to glee. One is a reality we feel and need to cope with. The other is a momentary emotion. They're both important and they're both a reality of human life. Accepting both with equal lack of resistance and the internal ability to be both sufficiently involved and sufficiently detached (at the same time) to the point where you can see how both things are a continuum is Pisces.

It's also all a far cry from Mars - or at least the general image, notion and manifestation of the astrological Mars as most things strong, determinative, assertive ... and yes, possibly egotistical or even half-pat arrogant. Yet Mars in Pisces isn’t weak. Indeed, sometimes Mars in Pisces is a period of great courage as we commit ourselves to doing something, come what may. Or when we show our strength not through defense or attack, but through our willingness to deal with things which are truly trying - or which we neither understand nor want to be involved with.

And why would we do that? We would do that because Mars in Pisces also represents being brave enough to take on feeling some compassion. Maybe it’s for others, yes.

But maybe it’s also about something you’ve never let yourself feel. Or think about to the point where your feelings become involved. Mars offers a spark of initiation, wherever it is, and Pisces is the lesson that humans are feeling beings. We just aren't stones - or if we are, there's either a truly good reason for acting that way or we should be looking in a mirror and figuring out why we don't want to feel because it's our feelings which motivate and move us.

Feelings get us to move - and make our moves, good or bad - which makes motivational Mars transiting Pisces a time when much may go on behind the scenes now as we do a little 'mirror' (or soul) searching. Or maybe we'll just be doing things in a behind the scenes manner (Pisces, like its associated 12th house is very 'behind the scenes'). Perhaps we'll now find ourselves able to (Mars) identify with some (Pisces) need or feeling cause.

Or maybe we'll be able to (Mars) bravely move past our feelings to a greater understanding which expresses the commonalty, the emotionality, the mortal sense of being human so common to all.

And when does Mars dive into the watery realm and sign of Pisces? That will occur next Monday (as the blogger blogs) January 12th, at 10:21 in the morning, UT/+0 time. And once there, Mars will be moving along at a rather rapid clip, as it’s more-or-less ‘standard’ two-month transit of a sign in Pisces is limited to about five weeks, as Mars will exit Pisces (for Aries) on February 20th.

Eris Direct at 22 Aries (glyph chart)

January 10, 2015 - 00:27 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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 Eris Direct at 22 Aries (text chart)

January 10, 2015 - 00:27 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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As for why we care, theoretically every sign has it’s ‘business’ to do, and as the ‘business’ of Pisces is to teach us about being in touch with our feelings (especially those particularly unsettling ones) so we will understand and relate to others through those feelings, Mars in Pisces is at some level the experience of that which will (Mars) motivate us through our deepest, most human understanding about what it means to be human precisely because we are human.

Depending on how accepting (or not accepting) we are of all that, with all we know - and inclusive of all we’re afraid to know, that’s how well we relate to the sign of Pisces.

(Read as: we all have issues with it.)

And about that rate of passage ... with an orbit around the Sun which takes just shy of two years the “norm” for Mars moving through any one of the twelve zodiac signs “should be” around two months.

But here, it’s only about five weeks. So for good or ill, that means that whatever it is which we meet up with, it will move along swiftly. And whatever it is which will cause us to feel, that’s what’s likely to happen so that we have an opportunity to be courageous in feeling those things ... as well as in ‘choosing to choose’ how we will respond instead of abandoning ourselves to our emotions by simply responding out of instinct.

Under Pisces, we become more deeply human by experiencing what it is and what it means to feel and feel ourselves managing the act of being a human being.

Another thing about this transit: Mercury will be in retrograde for most of it, and retrograde from the sign right next door (that being Aquarius) to Pisces.

Expect delays. We always expect some slowdown,  some jumbling of information and some going awry of schedules under Mercury retrograde, but with Mars in Pisces going on next door (as it were), there’s as distinct a chance that ‘crossed-wires’ will cause some kind of uproar and there’s just as good a chance that some kind of fracas will result in wires getting crossed out of (Mars in Pisces) instincts gone haywire.

In spite of which, all may well be worth everything in the end. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for said end to arrive - unless you look really, really good in a greyish shade of terminal blue. 

And as if that wasn’t exciting enough here during a period when so much is ‘out there’ and yet to be determined (which isn’t sitting well with a lot of us), we’re also in for some kind of t-squared (or squaring) sort of challenge.

As with all t-squares, this one works in zodiacal order (which here works out to be top-to-bottom). So with Mars-Fomalhaut-Neptune in the ‘starting position’ anything that we’re starting out with as Mars moves into Pisces needs to be honest, moral and not aimed at gaining any advantage or personal gain ... at the same time that we’re very busy being our own worst critics and about as ill-equipped as possible to judge ourselves (or what’s worth what) in the mists of this particular Martian deep water moment.

It all begins to come clear when we think of the ‘rule’ of dealing with t-squares, that being to see any  symbol at the ‘t’ as something which has to be approached globally and not personally to succeed - much as a class-action lawsuit is different from an individual course of legal action.

In other words, the challenge of any t-square is to get the “me” - the ego - out of the mix. So in simplest terms, t-squares support causes, not demands. They're about the 'cause' and not who we would be as an individual within (or against) that cause.

And when we fail? With a t-square, when we fall short of getting past our personal motivations, as they say in the world of board games we ‘return to Go without collecting $200’ - which in this case is being “returned” to Mars in Pisces (read: can you surrender your ego wall?), Fomalhaut (read: you’re only going to succeed when you do the right thing the right way for the right reasons!) and Neptune - the cosmic timekeeping hand which points here and there and nowhere at all as it times out those moments and periods when we learn not to expect and not to project ... but truly to get up every morning, prepared to accept.

The ‘object’ in this t-square puzzle is represented by Regulus, the Black Moon and Orcus - a success or successful effort which proves that not only were we right in doing what we’ve done, but in our reasons for doing it to begin with  - which means the Saturn-Pallas (at 1 and 6 Sagittarius, respectively) hurdle standing in the way of getting to that goal has something to do with a ‘responsible perspective’ or the ability/inability to take the time to function from (or structure/create) answers or plans based on cool or well thought through perspectives inclusive of what will be ‘earned’ in real-time everyday life (Saturn always refers to our real world life, time and lifetime).

Unfortunately Mars in Pisces is not always into earning simply because this is not Mars in its most energetic mode, meaning the non-resistance quality associated so strongly with Pisces may, over these next five weeks, indicate lethargy or discouragement as easily as instances of passive resistance - and this would be a classic sort of indicator of widespread weaknesses, be they of determination or physicality - which suggests this Mars in Pisces passage as a good time to watch out for health matters and when lackadaisical or sloppy efforts can lead things not getting done in a (Saturn) timely manner.

Despite all this, Mars in Pisces is a positive for the arts and artistry. Given the Piscean tendency to ban and bar ego, it’s also a time when compassion rises - along with (unfortunately) a need for compassion. Committing to ‘faith in the process’ would be positively Mars in Pisces, but it’s to expect some level of ‘fatalistic’ thinking - which may in itself inspire feelings of loss (of options or control - the tools of ego).

And yet despite all, it’s though such moments of darkness as well as the light and bright times that Mars in Pisces inspires faith. Going back to that ‘dust bin’ notion about Pisces, this is the sign of hitting emotional bottom just as Virgo (Pisces’ polarity sign) can be the sign of moral destitution - the solution we choose which doesn’t give a fig for others.

For many this transit of Pisces by Mars is also going to evoke a sense of aloneness. Never mind that some degree of loneliness goes with uniqueness as its  inevitable ‘other edge of the same blade,’ and not excluding those who tend to do just fine on their own a-la terribly solo, Mars transiting Pisces always manages to find that hole in our canopy, be it that one place where our emotional carpet has become shabbily threadbare.

And for the most of the world which has come to think emotional tattering is life’s norm?

Mars in Pisces in the yearning to know and feel ourselves knowing better - and feeling better now that we know if only for the having learned what we needed to learn (whether or not we knew we needed to learn it.).

Mars in Pisces also serves as a 'relief' valve on pressures built up under Mars in Aquarius (the post for which can be found HERE) ... which in metaphysical terms would be relief from all the stress and strain that Mars moving through the previous sign (Aquarius) would have built up - and which for many took a turn for good or ill around the time of Eris' station (see previous post), the two being astro-technically connected by Eris taking its turn to direct in Mars' primary sign of rulership (Aries) with Mars still opposing Jupiter.

It's part of the yin and yang of signs, degrees, cycles and life, in other words.

Mars in Pisces exercises our need to have faith. It also provides us with the need to test that faith at an emotionally cellular level. We know we’ll get through but we wish we didn’t have to ‘do this.’

And still ‘this’ happens, which means our only choice is that of ‘going with the flow’ or the marshaling of our most human Self, our courage and our faith in being self-determinative both about our goal - and why we believe in the good and goodness which will be achieved by getting there.
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Chiron Direct at 13 Pisces

Princess Olga Paley of Russia (1904)

by Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret

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That the Sun will have entered Sagittarius two days prior to Chiron going direct at 22:44 (10:44 p.m.) UT/+0 time on November 23rd promises growth. Not necessarily the kind of growth which is easily achieved, but growth... which yes, does include gaining weight - a comment which is timely  considering how this Sun-Sagittarius-Chiron mélange is happening but a couple of days before Americans sit down to Thanksgiving, the laden table of which is very Sagittarian, a sign in which ‘more’ often carries the thematic day.

That our Sun-in-Sagittarius life now presses for ‘more’ fits much of which is - and will be going on in these next days ahead. The issue may be what we do, how we think, what our aims are or the need to take on things we see as wrong or problematic - all such things will be on (or come to) that laden table this solar month typifying all we feel we need to do and all which life is confronting us with.

There’s a lot to take in, to do, to think about - and with Chiron now standing for what we do (or conclusions we adopt, back, act on or reject) which come back to bite us - or which we are concerned will come back to bite us (wanting to correct things being another Sagittarian tactic) we are likely to meet up with indecision. With not know quite what to do.

And that would be natural, as where Chiron is concerned we never know, we never learn the right-versus-wrong of virtually anything except through the doing of it, and that goes for not just what we actively choose to learn, but also for what we don’t know we’re going to be (ahem) caused to learn.

And yes, even sometimes through perils and problems we bring upon ourselves when we don’t learn.

In going direct at 13 Pisces, Chiron is stirring up a lot of variable energetics which are likely to look like indecision, indecisiveness and various kinds of realizations which test us at the heart-string level as something we want very much to be true is proven wrong.

Will we hurt ourselves our our aims or some goal if we change directions? Is is the right thing to do to stand on our own?

Considering this as a basic combination, there is a natural Sagittarian drive to do and know more which is meeting up with Pisces hopes and that human and Pisces tendency to want to see things for the best instead of in reality - and with Chiron on the Pisces side of this dynamic, interpreting situations and figuring out what to do may require investigation to sort truth from fluff and assorted forms of self-serving spin (which may or may not be deliberate) out from the chaff.

The good news here is that if such looking for facts and all that investigating is done with attention to detail and the willingness to face facts (including those which may be uncomfortable, unpleasant or feel invalidating (not that they are...) then a lot of good things can result.

It just won’t be instantaneous, which points to another little concept: though Chiron stations often lead to something good, they generally don’t mark our favorite moment in life. Most often we’ll greet such a series of days with a series of ‘do this - or do that?’ questions as we wonder, ponder and otherwise contemplate which path will get us to our desired result... and which path is least apt to cause complications. (Especially emotional complications, which given Chiron’s presence in Pisces could be more costly than one suspects.) One common challenge now will be dealing with one choice or aspect ‘pulling’ especially hard in one direction even as something deep inside ‘knows’ that’s not what we should do.

And that’s in spite of the fact that we’re not positive about any of it - not as positive as we’d like to be, at least. For some, just the idea of having to make any choice (or needing to face what past choices mean you need to do now) maybe that’s your amplifying force.

Whatever happens, expect some intermittent if persistent rattling to come from somewhere under the back of your psyche as Chiron is all about the difference between our native inclinations and how we can (and could) learn better. The reasons for such lessons are as individual as snowflakes - which makes sense considering how charts don’t repeat but every 25,920 years even without using asteroids, fixed stars and other such ‘extra’ natal points.

But they’re there. Lift the edge of a challenge over this next little while and you’ll find your own Chirotic dichotomy staring right back at you: the thing you know and which comes easily against the potential you have to turn your challenges into ability.

So what’s the rub? Well, the rub is simply this: where Chiron is concerned, the object is to master ourselves while our instinct is to master others - or at least spend all our time critiquing, criticizing and pointing fingers at others as we wax symphonic in explaining (to others or ourselves, whatever works) that we know how to do it - they don’t. And how could they be so foolish? How could they be in a position of power or responsibility when they obviously don’t know how to do what they’re doing?

Meanwhile, the irony of Chiron is simple: we may be talking about them. But while that’s getting sorted out, we are surely talking about ourselves.

With Chiron in Pisces we’re reacting to our own feelings - feelings which are currently being universally stirred by things happening on a universal level without anyone (starting with us) actually knowing what can be done to make everything universally acceptable, to us or anyone else. After all, there are two grand trines in progress...

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... both of which are in fire, implying there are at least a couple (if not multiple) ongoing situations, one or both of which involve disruptions which at some philosophically intricate level asks whether we know what ‘disruptions’ are, and what their cost - especially long term - really is.

What can we afford to do? More importantly, what can we afford to be? That these two trines come together as Chiron goes direct tends to say that it’s things already in motion which are complicating our life, and Uranus (at 12 Aries) is certainly in a semi-sextile to Chiron’s station, so we should expect the unexpected and not be surprised if something doesn’t quite go as planned.

That’s not to say that what happens isn’t a positive - it’s just that it’s likely to catch you off-guard, whatever the net result may come to be.

Uranus in this picture suggests we flex. But while we flex, we need to also maintain our individuality - and that may be just the Chiron question: how to do that?

Plus let’s remember - both of these grand trines (which amounts to ‘a lot’ of what our minds are caught up thinking about) are in fire, with the Sun’s and Venus’ presence in Sagittarius challenging our allegiance to the greater purpose... against our need to be who we are.

And if not validated by others, at least acknowledged by our own sense of being functional in our own life. 

Throughout the days of this station (which gets an allowance - say from November 21st through the 25th) we also shouldn’t be surprised if things which otherwise could be expected to be reasonable are suddenly inexplicably unreasonable. Or being greeted with a lot of talk, little doing, tons of critique and many a ‘if I was in that situation...’ commentaries, all of which are (unfortunately!) a terribly common Chiron symptom.

In short, wherever Chiron falls in your chart by house, that’s where you’re going to encounter some form of stumbling block in your own life... one which usually feels like ‘I don’t know how to do this’ which indeed you may not know how to do, but which you also aren’t likely to find anyone to do for you.

Why not? Because Chiron is a symbol of things we need to learn whether we want to or not. And it’s not like we’re disinterested, as generally the house in which Chiron falls describes areas of life where we would like things to work and be or become a ‘success story’ in our life - or life in general.

We’re even generally knowledgeable - at least to some extent on our Chirotic subject - as natal Chiron (by sign, house and aspect) often describes what we are perfectly willing (just ask us) to comment, critique and otherwise comment on how other people are dealing with the given question.

Given all this, what Chiron operationally manifests as is a irritating made up of a bit of angst, a bit of envy, and a generous desire to just ignore the whole thing - all of which causes us to feel like something has gotten under our skin when in reality the fact that we haven’t dealt with something in OUR own life.

That’s what’s under our skin. We just don’t want to think about it - because if we do, we’ll get all bent out of shape. Or just plain uncomfortable.

And about that 13 Pisces part... referred to as ‘The use of intelligence and mental subtlety as a protection against storms and trials’ by astrologer Marc Edmund Jones, the Sabian symbol for 13 Pisces (read as 14 Pisces) is ‘A lady wrapped in a large stole of fox fur,’ the ‘intelligence’ quotient of which is taken from the reputed cleverness of the fox (though intelligence and cleverness are not exactly the same thing) and yet, being that the reference is specifically animalistic, this would seem to refer to the kind of mentality we use in order to avoid facing our own emotional (Piscean) vulnerabilities - here referenced by ‘storms and trials’ which are anticipated to be of some breadth or duration considering how the stole being talked about isn’t just an ‘ordinary-sized’ stole, but a large stole which is specifically being cited as ‘protection.’

That one word - protection - denotes our vulnerability. And with Chiron taking its turn to direct at this degree, either things take a turn making it easier or more necessary for us to face that vulnerability as a fact. Or because this is Chiron, we may now be need to face what feeling vulnerable does to our thinking in causing us react perhaps in an ‘animalistic’ manner or as a matter of a more basic (instinctive) reaction which causes us to don some other ‘skin’ in, or as we contend with some  specific situation.

From here, Chiron will remain in direct motion until June 24th of 2015 at 21 Pisces in opposition to Black Moon Lilith at 23 Virgo - a tale of whether we’re willing to join in a task and whether we need to ‘go it alone’ which we’ll no doubt be thinking about next June. But for now....? Well, given the Sun’s presence in Sagittarius, we’re likely to have more than enough to do in the present moment.

Will we want to do it? Probably not - and the drive which underlies however we cope will be far more about what we feel uncomfortable with than that we like better. But does that mean we shouldn't do 'it'? That's the Chiron question. So  prepare yourself for excuses - some of which you will make to others, some of which you will make to your Self, and some of which you will make about whatever it is you’re doing while in the course of getting yourself to just go do it.

This station - the actual days of station - are likely to be vague trying. We’re likely to hear and see things which either force us to take a different route (or to change our priorities) or to just wonder how we’re supposed to get anything done, even while we watch people getting away with what we think is not trying. Or only vaguely trying.

Which yes, we’re likely to find quite trying - at least to our nerves or our stock of patience.

But if we stop...if we are able to stop focusing on them or what we don’t know long enough... if we’re brave enough, we’ll begin feeling whatever it is which is fueling some inner (and truly personal) annoyance.

It’s Chiron. Astrologers used to talk about Chiron as some philosophical ‘bridge’ to a more ‘evolved’ form of self - and maybe it is that. But if it is, Chirotic energies function as (and through) whatever it is which gets us to recognize how when Chiron is active either in transit or in our chart, how that’s when we tend to be riled up not by what we’re trying to do - but by how hard it is to get ourselves to do it.

And that would be for whatever reason.

Yes, it’s annoying, I know. And so does everyone else as Chiron is a truly universal experience - one of those ‘dirty little secrets’ about being human and mortal that none of us like...or at least like admitting to. There’s a subtle sort of undercurrent when Chiron is active which isn’t jealousy but which is definitely begrudged - and again, we tend to project that feeling. We’ll be annoyed with someone else instead of letting ourselves understand that none of us really like learning on the job.

Mastery, we like. Being forced to eat our cosmic vegetables before we get dessert...? That, we’re not as enthusiastic about.

But still...apparently there’s something we need to know. If unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should - whether you call that Fate or Creation or space/time or the workings of God, then no matter how we feel about anything in this moment, the Chirotic object is to learn from it... about it... and what it means that we have the feelings we have about it at this time. We may want to wrap ourselves in some guise, we may need to protect ourselves against some storm. This is ‘not knowing how to get myself through’ something (the Chiron Factor) immediately in the wake of Neptune’s station-direct in conjunction with Fomalhaut - a combination which is water plus water... feelings meeting emotional situation... irresistible change triggering an understanding of inevitable results.

Fomalhaut and its dust ring (photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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Of course, some of us won’t want to see or think about those results - and perhaps we shouldn’t blame them. After all, some things are hard to face and even harder to get through... especially when that Someone not wanting to feel what it’s going to take to get through something is you. 

Being that Chiron is currently heading away from the Sun (towards the outermost point in its orbit) the metaphysical implication is about expansion - about pushing us past whatever we consider the ‘boundary’ of what we know, what we know we can do and who we know ourselves to be. However this works we are going to be exposed to what our own feelings are about a lot of things - which is typical for anything seen in the sign of Pisces.

How we deal with all that will contribute or detract from everything else we are seeking to do, move ahead with or learn about now as the Sun continues moving through Sagittarius. It will also become its own Chirotic moment November 25th arrives and Chiron’s station starts giving way to Arachne’s station, Mercury exiting Scorpio for Sagittarius and Pandora going direct (all of which will be the subject of a next post).

In short, it’s going to be a complicated week which struggles a bit before finding its way...as we feel our own struggles before finding our way as well.
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Astrologer’s Diary: An Emotional Time

Lake Reflections

(photo credit: Paul Bica, November 2012)

If you’re into any sort of physics (astrophysics or any other kind of physics), you know that simple fact the rest of us think of as dropping a pebble into a pool.

You drop the pebble, there’s a ‘kerplunk’ and then the rings of ripples spread.

That’s the basic concept behind astrology. Astronomers and physicists now plainly understand that objects moving through space – a planet, a comet, an asteroid – distorts that space. It pushes through it, as it were. Space may be plenty empty, but it’s made of something.

Dark matter, many call it. But by any name the fact is plain: if objects are moving through space, space is something, not nothing.

So as space is distorted as the object moves through, the outbound ripples spread…until at some point, they encounter Earth, which is wandering along doing it’s own orbital thing around the Sun.

The angle at which those ripples encounter Earth is what we of this planet know as ‘being in a sign.’ The combinations of ripples hitting Earth at any given time combine to give a ‘ripple effect’ or totality of vibration which is unique to that moment.

It amazes me how many people don't understand that, just as it amazes me how anyone could miss the fact that the 'Earth is the center of the universe' idea which went out with Copernicus is actually true if you're thinking in terms of experiencing life as a being living here on Earth. 

Earth is the center of our world...it's just that in the whole of this E=mc2’d universe, Earth is not the center of All. 

Over the years I've come to see the organization of the universe...and more specifically our solar system...as a model for the organization of life - and our lives as individuals. It's a version of the microcosm as a reflection of the macrocosm theory which is found in countless teachings, none of which has ever struck me as starkly as a line which comes down to us from the Hermeticists of ancient Egypt: as above, so below.

That one statement says a lot. 

But more to the point...as I continue thinking about space and time and energy and the great sea of energy which is the Existence and the All, I wonder whether the astrology of objects orbiting beyond the asteroid belt is as it is because their ripples come through the asteroid belt? As it slowly has dawned in my thinking that the astrology of objects beyond Neptune (our solar system's last 'true' planet) all seem to pertain to things not yet conceived of in our life, it occurred to me that the energetics which "equal" the meanings of planets, comets and other things is in a very real way, cumulative.

That would not only explain the apparent "complexity" of objects beyond the asteroid belt, but the clear and clearly personal quality of those which orbit inside the asteroid belt.

Oh the things I think about, right? 

Of course, not everybody's going to agree with me. There will always be those who will object! That’s what humans do.

It’s part of being human. And as humans, it's as totally sensible to feel intimidated by realizing we’re just a tiny part of an infinitely vast Universe as to feel gloriously connected by conceiving of our life as a valid part of everything which has been or will ever be.

Ripple effects on water

(photo credit: Sergiu Baciolu, Romania, July 2009)

We’re now in May of 2013, when two of the five objects of largest mass orbiting beyond Earth are creating major energetic ripples in the astrological sign of emotion-provoking water. Those two planets are Saturn and Neptune, which together spell the dissolving of old ways and a difficult, often confusing and sometimes bewilderingly painful incoming tide of human growth.

It's just an emotional time.

Mind you…the word here is ‘human,’ not humane. Those who expect life to be peaceful are likely to be seriously disappointed in this next stretch of months ahead. But then, their disappointment is their own. Neptune in Pisces ultimately asks us to dream of the possible while dealing with the real and realistic – against which Saturn in Scorpio is life forcing us to look at ourselves in the mirror of others’ eyes.

It’s an undertow.

Those who know ocean swimming will tell you that the way to escape an undertow is not to aim directly for the beach, but to swim across the current until you leave the deadly pull – a pull which here is the death grip to have one’s desires be fulfilled before helping others survive in heavy surf.

And yes, the surf is heavy. Another two of those five major planets whose movements ripple our world and toss us from white caps to foam are in conflict. Pluto and Uranus are setting us at cross currents with our Selves, with our world, with our sense of what to do. As we might expect of any underworld god, Pluto in Capricorn represents the trembling of what we thought solid enough to stand on. Structures are begin torn apart like sand sculptures being hit by rising waves.

Waves of energy.

And while Pluto shudders, Uranus in Aries reveals gaps hidden in our lives. Being married to the idea of stability many of us will fail to see the light coming through these cracks as opportunities. But in the foresight of the future, that’s what they are.

The reason to write this post is simple: this is the beginning of an incoming tide. Just under a month from now, Jupiter will leave airy, idea and theory-driven Gemini for the world of where surf-meets-turn: the sign of Cancer.

And once Jupiter is in Cancer, all of Earth and all of us will experience a year of life alive with ripples coming from all three of the universal zodiacal angles known to be most emotional, as Pluto continues plying, prying and twisting apart the welds of outmoded life structures and worldly preconceptions. 

If a small body moving through space produces small ripples, a larger body moving through space will produce larger ripples.

Jupiter is the largest object in orbit around our Sun.

This suggests an incoming tide which is likely to become a flood. For some, it will be a surge of possibilities. In some instances, it will be the opening of flood gates, behind which has long been pent up feelings, needs and motivations.

And yes, there will be water which simply vanishes under many a bridge. Some of us will find ourselves in emotional water far over our heads.

Life is preparing us to go deeper. To live from a deeper and more vital, important level. Wherever we are, we stand to find ourselves in much deeper emotional water than we've experienced in perhaps forever.

Will you sink? Will you dive in? Will you swim life's emotional currents, braving your own abysmal depths and the cresting of life's emotional waves?

This sea of emotion is yours and everyone else's.

As are the emotional choices.
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Dateblog: March 2013

The better part of March has a whole lotta Pisces going on! As the month starts, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Neptune are ALL in Pisces. Mercury is even in retrograde. Oh – and there’s going to be a Pisces New Moon on the 11^th!

Life is fishy indeed. So are you in the swim of things? Or have you been totally swamped by some tsunami?

Since the astrological element of water is emotional, everything and anything which evokes or provokes emotionality is what’s basically at stake. Your physical home is an earthy, tangible thing. But the security you get from having a home and that sense of being settled, or getting cozy with your family – that’s water. Money is often thought of as a ‘water thing’ in astrology terms, most particularly in the sense of ‘wealth’ as it refers to security. Income? Income is Aquarian and airy as it’s a barter, a trade made in ‘theory’ or on a theoretical basis: I do this, you pay me that. I…SPEND this much time or INVEST this much of my knowledge in you or in your project and you give me XYZ.

Just to finish the thought here, people who have a water sign on natively airy houses always think of wealth in theoretical terms. This is why some people understood Mitt Romney (as a man with Pisces on his natively Aquarian 11^th house) when he spoke about economics and his ideas on earning while some people felt like his mental feet weren’t on reality’s ground.

 Mitt Romney at a February campaign stop

(photo credit: Gage Skidmore, February 13, 2012)

Anyway…we’re distinctly in an emotional time here. So those whose natal charts have such overlays will be gravitating towards whatever makes them feel secure: water signs on natively air sign houses (house numbers 3, 7 and 11) will be wanting to put things in a theoretical manner. Those with water signs on natively earthy houses (house numbers 2, 6 or 10) will be in that ‘if I just had ABC, I’d feel better.’  Those with water signs on intrinsically fiery houses (house numbers 1, 5 and 9) will be imagining better times and inclined towards philosophical discussions.

Bottom line, it’s still all about wanting to feel comfortable. But beyond that, this first week or so of March also offers a distinct opportunity to think through why whatever makes us feel uncomfortable makes us feel that way. If you can get to the root of that and solve that issue, you’ll not only feel comfortable in the short run, you’ll have ‘cured’ yourself of a little portion of human insecurity!

Not bad, eh?

One of the earliest items of specific note for March is the New Moon at 21 Pisces - yet another Moon in a series which is at 21 degrees of succeeding signs. Some of us will see this as a time to begin 'letting go' of something. Others of us will remain shy about anything which could expose us to situations which provoke those feelings we so don't want to feel. 

As of March 12^th, Mars moves into Aries: levels of assertiveness rise. We’re all going to feel more motivated (perhaps restless) during the next five-plus weeks of this Aries/Mars transit.

 Mars by Johann Baptist Straub (1772)

(photo credit Rufus46, September 2008)

But then Mercury goes on station (as of March 15^th) to go direct on the 17^th (UT/+0 time). Mercury’s going direct at 5 Pisces suggests actions based on faith and made as ‘offerings’ turn out best. Making this all the more interesting is the fact that March 16^th plays host to a Yod composed of Pluto-in-Capricorn, Saturn-(retrograde)-in-Scorpio and Jupiter-in-Gemini. The knee-jerk response here will be to talk more, scatter our bets or to spread ourselves thin where the successful move now is to do something very considered and responsible. And if you’ve put a lot of work and thought into it before you arrive at this point, so much the better!

Barely has this passed when we reach the Aries ingress – the change of seasons. But since as the Sun moves into Aries, transiting Mars conjuncts transiting Uranus (within orb of the Sun), life gets very unexpected. Maybe even explosive or chaotic. Thinking on your feet is essential, and we all can expect an emotional few days which start in a very ‘universal mode’ but which become far more personal and self-focused as Venus moves into Aries on March 22^nd.

 Known as 'The Venus de Milo,' this Parian marble statue was found

on the Greek island of Melos in 1820 and presented as a gift from the

Marquis de Riviere to King Louis XVIII of Frank in 1821. Thought to have

been carved somewhere in the vicinity of 130-100 BCE, this Venus

(which originally would have been an 'Aphrodite' as that was the Greek

name for the goddess) is now housed at the Louvre in Paris

(photo credit: Jastrow)

But as focused on ourselves as we may be, March’s last astrological ‘act’ is a Libra Full Moon on March 27^th. This is a moment when we will do ourselves a goodly favor by remembering others…and that how we act determines how others re-act.

Mercury’s still in Pisces. So we’re still thinking with our hearts, souls and feelings. That could be a detriment, but let’s hope it serves to make us all more aware of each other and aware that we all need and fear pretty much the same things.

The summary here is that this is a month which begins with emotionality and all the indecision or conflicted ideas or confusion which goes with that. But through events and moment large and small, we evolve and get on with things - hopefully for all the right reasons!

 

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